Friday, June 22, 2012

Wedding Season: The Best Wedding Gift I've Ever Given

*I'm not a wedding blogger by any means (just a seasoned wedding guest), but with wedding season upon us I thought I'd share a few posts for brides and wedding guests alike. Today: my favorite group gift!*

When my friend Tracey got married last fall, a handful (eight, to be exact) of friends and I got together and gave the happy couple what turned out to be the best wedding gift I've ever given. It all started one late summer day when my roommate and I were walking home from brunch. We spotted a discarded chair that stopped us both in our tracks. It was super dirty and covered in weird yellow vinyl, but it had such a nice shape.

We considered keeping it for ourselves, but we didn't really need it. Then I remembered Tracey saying that she and her then-fiance were looking for a chair for their new living room. I texted her a picture and she liked it, so we carried it home. It was totally random that we ran across the chair, but I loved the idea of having it reupholstered for them as a wedding present.

Tracey and I went fabric shopping and she chose a gorgeous mustard yellow linen. We worked with a great (and relatively inexpensive) upholsterer in Brooklyn who did an amazing job restoring the chair to it's former glory. Actually, based on the weird yellow vinyl, I think the chair likely looks better now than it did when it was new!

Hands down, it's my favorite wedding gift ever. It's so fun to see it in their living room now. And it made me think about getting a little more creative with gift-giving. Being able to split the cost with a group made it so do-able. I could see doing something similar with a thrift store find, or hand-me-down furniture for a young couple just starting out. What do you think, would you give furniture as a wedding gift?

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